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The Girl in Green (Paperback)

Staff Reviews

In 1991 two men of vastly different character would meet at checkpoint Zulu near the Iraqi village Samawh in the first days after the peace accord that ended Operation Desert Storm. Arwood Hobbes is an American serviceman guarding checkpoint Zulu, Thomas Benton is an English journalist. The two men will try to rescue an Iraqi girl wearing a green dress, they will fail. Nothing will be the same; a part of each man’s soul will be altered by that desert encounter. Twenty two years later they will reunite and return to the Middle East, this time on the border of Syria and Iraq, in an attempt to recapture what they lost in 1991 and bring a measure of redemption. A brief news video of a girl in a green dress involved in a massacre is the catalyst. This is a hideously dangerous endeavor that may cost them their lives. Marta Strom is a Swedish humanitarian aid worker; she met the men in 1991, now she will try to help them while not feeling entirely comfortable with their methods or goals. Miller spins a brilliant story, the characters are flawed but noble, the action deadly. While it entertains and will keep you on the edge of your seat, it will also make you think. Miller knows the Middle East, wrote his PHD on the 1991 Iraqi civil war. Arwood says this in an exchange with Jamal, their driver. “we will never get along with anyone – not now, not later, not ever – if their mamas don’t dance and their daddies don’t rock and roll.” Frighteningly enough, I think I understand what he is saying. Read the exchange, it is quite a conversation. Read the book, I promise you it will have enough action, plot twists, and danger to keep those pages turning. Miller’s earlier book, Norwegian by Night, is one of my favorites. The Girl in Green is another brilliant novel.

— Deon Stonehouse

Description

"A modern masterpiece." -- BookPage

Finalist for the CWA Gold Dagger Award, "Best Crime Novel of the Year"

"Not to be missed, this is a compelling combination of literate storytelling and action-packed thriller laced with humor." -- Library Journal, starred review

1991. One hundred miles from the Kuwaiti border, Thomas Benton meets Arwood Hobbes. Benton is a British journalist who is starting an ambitious career reporting from war zones, resulting in the estrangement of his wife and daughter; Arwood is a naive small-town American private bored out of his skull waiting for something--anything--to happen. Desert Storm is over, peace has been declared, but as they argue about whether it makes sense to cross the nearest border in search of an ice cream, they become embroiled in a horrific attack in which a young local girl in a green dress is killed as they are trying to protect her. The two men walk away into their respective lives. But something has cracked for them both. Twenty-two years later, in another place, in another war, they meet again as changed men. Time, politics, or maybe fate is now offering an unlikely opportunity to redeem themselves when that same girl in green is found alive and in need of salvation. Or is she?

"Written with Miller's incisive wit, intelligence, compassion and authenticity, this is a novel from a writer fast becoming a master of his craft." -- Evening Post (UK)